Do naps/breaks make more sense in current environment?

[bumbershoot]

For me breaks just mean MORE walking. Walk out of the park, to the car or bus, then to the room. Try to get to sleep. Then walk back to car/bus, back to park, etc.

No thank you.

Schedule an air-conditioned early or late lunch and relax during it. That's my style of a break.

 

[serenitynow]

Or there is always the Hall of Presidents show

 

[jpkkld]

When DD was little, I recall reading that the #1 thing kids enjoyed on their Disney vacations were the hotel pools. Which made me realize I also really enjoy the hotel pools! And many of the hotels are worthy of exploration and a bit of shopping. Add to this that I no longer have a child who hits a tantrum point, but a HUSBAND who hits a tantrum point... yes, we take a break. And have always really enjoyed it!

 

[mcd2745]

I always have been, and always will be anti-afternoon breaks...until Disney Transportation starts teleporting you between the parks and your resort room. A two-hour break doesn't bother me in and of itself. But let's say we're staying at CBR, it's 12 noon and we just got off BTMRR. We now want to take a nap or pool break. It will be 20 minutes at minimum (probably longer) to get to the bus stall. Wait at least another 15 minutes in all likelihood for a bus, then the ride to CBR and making your way to your room. And if going to the pool, as a family of 4 needing to change with 1 bathroom and then the walk to the pool, it's at least 2pm now - 2 hours after your last ride and you decided to leave the park. Spend your 2 hours at the pool and then reverse the process. You're back in the park, at best, around 6pm. So you're '2-hour break' has cost you 6 hours of time outside the park.

 

[LilAnn]

We just got back from the crazy crowded President's Week and found that midday breaks were essential. It was warmer than normal and with most wait times at the 2 hour mark, most people in our group were not able to handle a full day at the parks. The parks were sold out all week. What we found worked for us was early entry to the parks to get through as many rides as we could get to with the shorter wait times. Once the parks got really crowded and hot, we would break midday. Some people went to the pool. Some just wanted downtime in AC. Some of us would ride the skyliner to get treats at other resorts. Then we would return to the parks when it was cooler and everyone's legs/feet were a bit more rested. We only had one child (14yr) and everyone else was an adult.

 

[jpkkld]

So you're '2-hour break' has cost you 6 hours of time outside the park.

I agree, a break takes a lot of time. I, personally, have never needed 6 hours, though if you do more than one thing, it could easily eat up all that time (swim, nap, run, gym, shop, explore the resort, etc.). We have ranged from 3 to 4 hours using buses from AKL, POFQ, and POR.

More context, because I think it's relevant:
- We're not fast walkers - we dilly-dally, stop to look at stuff, jump in the line ride at the restrooms... we're slow.
- Rope drop... theoretically, you get more done if you start as early as possible... not so sure that's still true. But if you've had a successful morning, you're mentally ready to relax a bit in the afternoon.
- AKL gets a lot of complaints for their very long halls. When we stay there, we actually ASK for the rooms at the very end of the long halls, becasue the "partial" animal views are so great there. So add 5 minutes for each walk (bus to room, room to pool, pool to room, room to bus).
- Also consider that we would "spare a few minutes" for hanging out on the balcony to watch the animals. We could never leave on time! Add 10-15 minutes each time we needed to go to the park.
- Finally, AKL is a bit far for most of the parks, and midday, you can wait for one single bus to do a whole loop to a park and back if you just miss it as you get to the bus stop. Those were the 4-hour breaks!
- Even with all that, we never needed more than 4 hours for a break while staying at AKL. Other resorts are somewhat more convenient to the parks and less distracting.

When we stay closer to a park, like the Epcot resorts, we have a more relaxed break - maybe a swim AND a nap. But still take 3-4 hours.

The only time this is really difficult or impossible is when the parks close early.

 

[kmedina]

For me breaks just mean MORE walking. Walk out of the park, to the car or bus, then to the room. Try to get to sleep. Then walk back to car/bus, back to park, etc.

No thank you.

Schedule an air-conditioned early or late lunch and relax during it. That's my style of a break.

This is what we do. We always do a sit down lunch. Usually when I return to the room and get relaxed, I do not want to leave again that day. We do the resort pool on a non-park day.

 

[isabellea]

In the past, we mostly stayed RD to close and had the youngest nap in the stroller. Once or twice, we drove to the park and one of us would go back to the resort with a tired kid for a nap using Disney transportation and then back to the park until close. This summer, no stroller and being a summer trip it will be HOT! We booked the Dolphin so we are walking distance to two parks, so breaks will be easy to take in the afternoon and since we want to enjoy the extra evening hours at MK, I don't mind wasting some time in transportation for that day so we get refreshed for our late evening. My youngest also has chronic back pain so her touring style this time will have to be adapted to her this trip.

 

[Brian Noble]

So you're '2-hour break' has cost you 6 hours of time outside the park.

I could quibble with whether it is six, or five, or four (for us, usually a little under five), but in general:

Yes, you have it exactly right.

The point of a break for my family is to take a healthy time away from the parks, whatever that time is, so that we are rested and refreshed for the evening. When we try to cut it short, we invariably end up cranky and it’s harder to enjoy ourselves that night and sometimes the next morning too. We have learned the hard way that we have more fun in the parks when we take them in measured doses.

This could be because we tend to take longer trips, and as Tour Guide Mike used to put it: It’s a marathon, not a sprint. It could also be because we’ve been there done that enough to know that if we miss something it won’t ruin the trip, and that something that we missed will (probably!) be there next time. (RIP Primeval Whirl.) Maybe it’s because we are thinking of this as an overall vacation and not just riding a lot of rides. (There’s a reason I was an early member of the Bay Lake Society.) Maybe we are just lazy.

Whatever the reason, it definitely works for us. It might not work for everyone, and that’s fine. But there is a bit of a “more rides == more fun” mentality here on DISboards, and I’m not sure that’s always true.

 

[bjcaed]

We have always taken mid day breaks. It worked great with Genie plus. We made sure to rope drop, used Genie plus to ride until lunch. Had an adr for 1:00 lunch, during lunch booked one LL for the afternoon return, continued to do that every two hours for evening return. We booked any paid lightning lanes for park return. It was fantastic. We waited in very little lines. This was in December and it was crowded.

 

[bjcaed]

We have always taken mid day breaks. It worked great with Genie plus. We made sure to rope drop, used Genie plus to ride until lunch. Had an adr for 1:00 lunch, during lunch booked one LL for the afternoon return, continued to do that every two hours for evening return. We booked any paid lightning lanes for park return. It was fantastic. We waited in very little lines. This was in December and it was crowded.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We didn't take a break yesterday afternoon because we were at HS and our G+ return times didn't really allow time for one. Today, we left MK around 1:30 because we all (5 adults) need a break. We'll return for our dinner reservation and stay until the park closes at 11. We are staying offsite; we got on the monorail at 1:35 and pulled into Windsor Hills at 2:08 (did not use the tram).

 

[MainMom]

We didn't take a break yesterday afternoon because we were at HS and our G+ return times didn't really allow time for one. Today, we left MK around 1:30 because we all (5 adults) need a break. We'll return for our dinner reservation and stay until the park closes at 11. We are staying offsite; we got on the monorail at 1:35 and pulled into Windsor Hills at 2:08 (did not use the tram).

We are break people, but I’ve recently been thinking we might have to tough it out on our full HS day if that’s how the genie falls.

 

[danceintherain]

DH was the one who insisted on naps/breaks from the very beginning. I tried making him go all day, like we always did growing up, and he just wouldn't have it.
Now that my parents are older, they happily take breaks every day too. I have no idea how they did the parks all day when we were kids. I guess the little ones were just expected to sleep in the stroller?
Even though I CAN stay out all day, I do enjoy the rest time.

As far as Genie+ goes....I don't know how that will pan out, but I can't see us ever arriving to the parks later and just staying until close. It just gets too hot in the afternoons. I would much rather tour in the morning, even if it means a couple longer lines, then return later once the kids are older.